Champagne 2018 Award. Section A (ProofGames) 11 entries by 16 composers ; 2 were cooked. 1 st Prize Vidmantas Satkus (Lithuania)

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1 Champagne 2018 Award Theme was Valladao. I chose it, remembering that Gligor Denkovski wrote on this theme in Orbit. This choice was criticised as Valladao was explored intensively in the past. This is true of many themes in composition... However, composer of 2 nd Prize in Section B indicated that this tourney prompted him to compose Retros again after 35-years interruption! If only for this reason, I will not regret chosing this theme... Section A (ProofGames) 11 entries by 16 composers ; 2 were cooked 1 st Prize Vidmantas Satkus (Lithuania) SPG 23,5 (13+12) C+ 1.b4 g5 2.b5 Lg7 3.b6 L a1 4.b a7 Ld4 5.a b8=t Ta5 6.a4 La7 7.d4 g4 8.Lf4 g3 9.é3 g h2 10.g4 h g1=s 11.g5 Sé2 12.g6 Sç1 13.Lé2 Sh Kh2 Kg7 16.Tg1 Kf6 17.g7 Ké6 18.g8=S Kd5 19.ç4+ Kç6 20.d5+ Kb6 21.Dd4+ ç5 22.d ç6 e.p.+ Ka6 23.ç5+ b5 24.ç b6 e.p.+ The 2 Prizes complete the «single» Valladao with extra special moves. (4 «extras» in this one : 1 en passant, 1 castle and 2 promotions). Both have no promoted piece apparent and their own qualities. Here the long march of black King after castling is an attractive point. The decisive element in the order was the number of «extras» (which has its weight in a thematical tournament), and also, of course, that there is an «extra» of each kind, so we can simply consider that the theme is doubled!!

2 2 nd Prize Ivan Denkovski (Macedonia) SPG 26,5 (12+15) C+ 1.d4 ç5 2.Lg5 ç4 3.Lf6 é f6 4.h4 Lç5 5.Th3 d6 6.Tb3 Lé6 7.Tb5 Da5+ 8.b4 ç b3 e.p.+ 9.Sç3 Lç4 10.d5 Db4 11.Dd4 a Sa6 13.Sb Dg4+ Kb8 15.f4 Té8 16.Sf3 Té6 17.d é6 Sé7 18.Td5 Sç8 19.é7 h5 20.é8=D h g4 21.Dé3 g f3 22.g4 Th5 23.Lg2 Tg524.h5 Sb6 25.h6 Sa4 26.h7 Sb2 27.h8=S The 2 extras are 1 castling and 1 promotion. The en passant embedded in the solution (not played at the end) is a positive point. 1 st HM Marek Kolcak (Slovakia) SPG 12,5 (12+15) C+ 1.f4 ç5 2.f5 Da5 3.f6 Kd8 4.f é7+ Kç7 5.é8=T b6 6.Té3 La6 7.Th3 L é2 8.Sf3 L d1 9.Lé2 ç Lç5+ 11.d4 ç d3 e.p.+ 12.Tf2 L f2+ 13.Kf1

3 The 2 first HMs use a similar mechanism («Heinonen's trick») to couple the embedded en passant with castling. In the first, the castling Rook is captured, and there is an «impostor» Rook (the promoted one) on diagram, making the castling more invisible, a better thematical choice. 2 nd HM Jonathan Mestel (England) SPG 13,5 (15+13) C+ 1.ç4 h5 2.Db3 h4 3.Kd1 h3 4.Kç2 h g2 5.Sh3 g1=s 6.Lg2 Sf6 7.Lç6 Sf3 8.Tg1 Sé4 9.T g7 f6 10.Tg1 Lg7 11.é f ç5+ d5 13.ç d6 e.p.+ Tf7 14.d7 3 nd HM Rainer Kuhn & Gregor Werner (Germany) SPG 9,0 Annan (15+16) C+ 1.gh4 g3 2.Sh3 g2 3.hg6 g1=s 4.Sh4 Sh3 5.h6 Sf4 6.Lh3 df Ld7 8.Kg2 Ld5+ 9.éé4 S é3 e.p.+

4 Very original : the en passant is played by the promoted piece, thanks to the fairy condition! (0-0 is normal ). Would have been placed higher without 3 black Knights on diagram. 1 st Com. Paul Raican (Romania) SPG 18,0 Glasgow (12+11) 1.é4 é5 2.Dé2 Lé7 3.Db5 Lh4 4.Lç4 f6 5.L g8 a5 6.Lb3 a4 7.ç ç5+ d5 9.ç d6 e.p.+ Tf7 10.d ç7=t a3 11.T ç8 a b2=l 12.Tç2 D d2+ 13.L d2 Lç1 14.La5 Lh6 15.Sç3 g g4+ 17.f4 g f3 e.p.+ 18.Tdd2 f g2=s Bi-colored Valladao but the Fairy condition is weakly exploited and the en passant mechanism is orthodox ( Heinonen's trick ) 2 nd Com. Ladislav Packa, Emil Klemanic, Ladislav Salai Jr (Slovakia) & Michal Dragoun (Czech Republic) SPG 11,5 (15+12) C+

5 1.h4 é6 2.h5 Dh4 3.ç3 Dç4 4.f4 Lb4 5.f5 Sé7 6.f f é7 Sç6 8.é f8=s Sé7 9.S h7 K h7 10.Dç2+ Kh6 11.d4+ g5 12.h g6 e.p.+ Theme with Ceriani-Frolkin promotion. Hors Concours Submitted by composers not present in Ohrid. Andrey Frolkin (Ukraine) & Chris Tylor (England) a) A=>B(SPG) 11,5 (15+13) b) B=>C 6,0 (12+13) c) C=>D 4,0 (12+13) #R Chess #R Chess is a fairy form invented by Andrey and Chris a while ago. The piece directly delivering mate is removed from the board and the play continues. It ends only if the mate is final. This happens when removing the mating piece results in self-check. This can be tested with Jacobi, solving program by François Labelle (the problem is C+) a) 1.h4 a5 2.Th3 a4 3.Tb3 Ta5 4.T b7 Té5 5.b4 d5 6.La3 Lg4 7.Dç1 Lf3 8.g f3 Kd7 9.Lh3+ Kd6 10.Ld7 é6 11.b5+ ç5 12.b ç6 e.p.(, -La3!) b) 1.Kç5 d4+ 2.K d4 Sa3 3.L a3 ç4 4.Lç5 Dç2 5.a (, -Rd1!) c) 1.Th5 ç7 2.Ké5 f4+ 3.Kd6 f3 4.Dg5 ç8=s( -Sç8!) The 3 special moves are concluding the 3 parts!

6 Annex Unto Heinonen 2 nd Prize, Die Schwalbe 1993 SPG 23,0 (12+13) C+ 1.é4 é5 2.Dé2 Lé7 3.Db5 Lh4 4.Lç4 f6 5.L g8 a5 6.Lb3 Sa6 7.ç ç5+ d5 9.ç d6 e.p.+ Tf7 10.d ç7 Dd4 11.d3 D b2 12.Sç3 D ç1+ 13.Sd1 Dh6 14.Sb2 g g4+ 16.f4 g f3 e.p.+ 17.Td2 f g2 18.Sf3 g1=t+ 19.Sé1 Tgg7 20.Sg2 Lg4 21.Thd1 Taf8 22.ç8=T a4 23.Tçç2 Sç7 Bi-colored Valladao Kostas Prentos, Andrey Frolkin, dedicated to Werner Keym 1 st Prize, Die Schwalbe 2006 SPG 23,0 (12+13) C+ 1.h4 a5 2.h5 a4 3.h6 a3 4.h g7 h5 5.g4 Sh6 6.g8=L Lg7 7.g5 Ld4 8.g6 f6 9.Ld5 Lç5 10.Lç g7 Kh7 12.g8=T b ç6 13.Tg5 La6 14.Té5 f é5 15.f4 Tf6 16.f5 Td6 17.f6 Lç4 18.f7 L a2 19.f8=D Lé6 20.Df3 a2 21.Dd5 a b1=s 22.Ta2 Sç3 23.d ç3 ç d5 24.Kd2 d4 25.Kd3 Lf5+ 26.é4 d é3 e.p.+ Valladao including AUW Ceriani-Frolkin

7 Section B (other kinds of Retros) 6 entries by 11 composers. One was cooked and one anticipated. 1 st Prize Vlaicu Crisan & Paul Raican (Romania) Proca-Retractor -4 & s 1 (6+5) Anticircé Assassin -1.f5 g6 e.p. (wpg2,-wdg2) g7-g5-2.ka8-a Kb8-a7 b2-b1=s+ -4.Dd5-g2 & 1.Dg8+ T g8(ta8) Every special move uses the fairy condition! 2 nd Prize Marko Klasinc (Slovenia) (-1 & 2 )* (11+12)

8 White has set mate : 1.Dg8 First idea is to retract a tempo retro-move for -1 & 1-1.X & 1.Dg8 But such available retro-moves are illegal : -1.f2 g3?? leaves Dh1 in illegal position -1.f2 é3? implies Bishop promotions a7xb8=l and c2-c1=l but the resulting position is illegal as it requires too many black captures (original wlç1 is not available for them). So, white has to retract a move that destroys the set mate, then to play it forward to threaten again the set mate : -1.X and 1.X threatens 2.Dg8 but black escapes with ! White has to choose carefully the retracted move so as to prove that castling is illegal. By retracting en passant, one of black Bishop is proved promoted and idea is that number of black captures will imply wpa having to promote on a8. Try : -1.dxe6 e.p.? & 1.dxe6 e.p. (2.Dg8 #) but ! Bishop c1 is promoted. If it would be by c2-c1=l?, castle could be proven illegal, but the possibility f2xtg1=l! doesn't imply promotion of wpa and castling stays legal! Solution : -1.cxd6 e.p.! & 1.cxd6 e.p.! (2.Dg8 #) 1 gxh6 2.De7 # ? illegal!. Bishop d1 is promoted. It can only be by d2-d1=l!; the number of black captures implies promotion of wpa on a8 and castling is illegal! The retro elements are classical, but the overall presentation is quite satisfying. HM Ladislav Packa, Emil Klemanic, Ladislav Salai Jr (Slovakia) & Michal Dragoun (Czech Republic) White to move. White en passant capture before 11 single moves (9+9) a4 Db5-2.Db8-b5 g4 Lf5-3.Dd8-b8 Tb8-b3-4.Ld3-f5 b7-b8=t -5.La6-d3 b6-b7-6.lç8-a7 ç5 b6 e.p. -7.b7-b5

9 Quite neat. (Some similar elements than in the Champagne 2017 problem by first 3 composers!) Commended Andrey Frolkin (Ukraine) & Igor Vereschagin (Russia) Help-Retractor -3 & h 1 (2+8) -1.f4 é3 e.p.+ é2-é4-2.d5-d4+ b7-b8=s & 1.Kd8 b8=d Well-known retro elements. Michel Caillaud Ohrid, 7 September 2018.